Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) Shares Down 0.1% Following Insider Selling

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) shares fell 0.1% on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $494.54 and last traded at $495.74. 7,528,534 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 56% from the average session volume of 17,004,471 shares. The stock had previously closed at $496.10.

Specifically, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $394.76, for a total value of $7,769,271.56. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Meta Platforms news, CTO Andrew Bosworth sold 8,036 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, February 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $473.28, for a total transaction of $3,803,278.08. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief technology officer now owns 18,432 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,723,496.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Mark Zuckerberg sold 19,681 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $394.76, for a total value of $7,769,271.56. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 1,368,244 shares of company stock valued at $657,034,449 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 14.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have issued reports on META. Oppenheimer increased their target price on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 8th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $380.00 to $520.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating and issued a $500.00 price objective on shares of Meta Platforms in a report on Monday, March 18th. Piper Sandler raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $525.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 11th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Meta Platforms from $450.00 to $540.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, thirty-eight have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Meta Platforms presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $520.28.

Meta Platforms Trading Down 1.9 %

The stock has a market cap of $1.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.27, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $495.52 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $402.50. The company has a quick ratio of 2.67, a current ratio of 2.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.12.

Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The social networking company reported $5.33 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.82 by $0.51. The company had revenue of $40.11 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $39.12 billion. Meta Platforms had a net margin of 28.98% and a return on equity of 29.48%. Meta Platforms’s revenue was up 24.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.00 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Meta Platforms, Inc. will post 20.18 EPS for the current year.

Meta Platforms Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, March 26th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, February 22nd were issued a dividend of $0.50 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, February 21st. This represents a $2.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Meta Platforms’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 13.42%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Meta Platforms

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 2.1% in the first quarter. Wells Trecaso Financial Group LLC now owns 3,353 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $1,628,000 after buying an additional 68 shares during the period. Childress Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 1.5% in the first quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 7,747 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $3,762,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Essex Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 9.2% in the first quarter. Essex Financial Services Inc. now owns 14,460 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $7,022,000 after buying an additional 1,214 shares during the period. H&H Retirement Design & Management INC acquired a new position in Meta Platforms in the first quarter valued at $1,101,000. Finally, West Branch Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Meta Platforms by 46.6% in the first quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 4,895 shares of the social networking company’s stock valued at $2,377,000 after buying an additional 1,556 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 79.91% of the company’s stock.

Meta Platforms Company Profile

Meta Platforms, Inc engages in the development of products that enable people to connect and share with friends and family through mobile devices, personal computers, virtual reality headsets, and wearables worldwide. It operates in two segments, Family of Apps and Reality Labs. The Family of Apps segment offers Facebook, which enables people to share, discuss, discover, and connect with interests; Instagram, a community for sharing photos, videos, and private messages, as well as feed, stories, reels, video, live, and shops; Messenger, a messaging application for people to connect with friends, family, communities, and businesses across platforms and devices through text, audio, and video calls; and WhatsApp, a messaging application that is used by people and businesses to communicate and transact privately.